This weekly message keeps active members informed of the Dashing Whippets training activities for the next seven days.

Schedule change: There are no group workouts on Thursday, December 31. Happy 2016!

Dashing Whippets Training Plan for the Week

This week 1 of a training plan for Boston and New Jersey marathoners, and a short stay-in-shape period for non-marathoners.

Please click on the links below to RSVP if you are planning to come out to one of these training events!

Note: Almost all training paces, such as 5K, 10K, half marathon, should be your estimated pace if you ran the race today — not your goal or PR pace. (Exception: Marathon pace is your goal pace or best guess of your well-trained marathon speed.) You can use the Daniels VDOT calculator to estimate your pace from a recent result.

Monday 12/28: Easy day

• Spring marathoners should run 40-45 minutes easy, followed by 3-5 x 100m strides
• Everyone else should run 30-45 minutes easy, or optionally rest
• Monday Morning Mileage (Central Park) option: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/226988819/
• Monday Evening Easy (East Village) option: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/227258841/

Tuesday 12/29: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1.5-2 miles. Then…

• Spring marathoners, half marathoners and Short distance (5K-half marathon) specialists(with a solid base of speedwork): Run 2 miles at half marathon pace. Then jog 3 minutes easy to recover. Then run 4 repeats of 400m uphill at 5K pace (jog back downhill to recover). Finish with a 1-1.5-mile cooldown jog.
• Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): Run 2 miles at half marathon pace followed by 2 miles at easy pace as a long cooldown.
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/226852964/
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/226852964/

Wednesday 12/30: Recovery day

• Spring marathoners and half marathoners should run 30 minutes easy, followed by 3 x 100m strides
• Everyone else should do 20-30 minutes of easy running or aerobic system cross training
• Morning group run, Central Park: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/226988820/

Thursday, 12/31: Short speedwork day: 20-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• Spring marathoners: 2 repeats of 2 miles at 15K pace, with a 3:00 jogging recovery between them. Finish with a 15-20-minute easy cooldown jog.
• Everyone else (half marathoners, short distance specialists with a solid base, and runners who are building a base): Do the Spring Marathoner workout, OR run 4 repeats of 800m at 10K pace with a 400m jog recovery, and finish with a 10-minute cooldown jog.
• Alternative for indoor track specialists (who have done speedwork regularly): After warming up, do an extra 15 minutes of jogging and form drills (high knees, butt kicks, A-skip, carioca, in-place hopping, short bounding, etc). Then do 4 repeats of 300m at one-mile race pace, with a 100m walk after each. Finish with a generous cooldown jog.
• Thursday group workouts are CANCELLED this week

Friday 1/01: Very easy day

• Everyone should rest, or do Thursday’s workout today if you missed it yesterday
• Optionally, advanced marathoners may do 40 minutes of easy running

Saturday and Sunday, 1/02-03: On one day, do 30-55 minutes of easy running followed by 3-4 x 100m strides. On the other day, do a long run…

• Boston marathoners: 1:45 of running at long run pace
• New Jersey marathoners: 1:30-1:40 of running at long run pace
• NYC Half competitors: 1:20-1:30 of running at long run pace
• Everyone else (non-marathoners with a solid base, and runners who are building a base): 1:00-1:20 of running at easy or long run pace
• Long run pace is 45-60 seconds per mile slower than marathon pace — a little faster than easy pace, but still not challenging.
• There are weekly team long runs around the city. To see all options for weekend training runs with the Whippets, please view the calendar: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/

Training Calendars

• Starting THIS WEEK, Dashing Whippets marathon training plans
• Boston marathon plan: http://files.meetup.com/1454408/2016%20Boston%20marathon%20training%20plan.png
• New Jersey plan: Coming soon!
• Starting in NEXT WEEK, Dashing Whippets training plans for the NYC Half and the Washington Heights 5K
• NYC Half plan: http://files.meetup.com/1454408/DWRT_TrainingPlan_Winter2016_NYCHalf.pdf
• Washington Heights 5K plan: http://files.meetup.com/1454408/DWRT_TrainingPlan_Winter2016_5K10K.pdf